Wednesday, December 31, 2014

When I first started sketching in the fall of 2011, I
committed to trying to sketch every day, but I also told myself that if I
sometimes fell behind or just got so busy that I couldn’t manage a sketch one
day, I wouldn’t beat myself up over it. As a result, I’d sketched almost every day, but occasionally when
the weather was bad, and I didn’t feel like going out, I didn’t do one. Or if I’d
had a really hectic, busy day, and squeezing in a sketch just felt like too
much “work,” I gave myself a break. That’s how it went the first couple of years.

On Jan. 1, 2014, I tried something new. I again made a
commitment, but this time I made it to draw
every day for a year (“Draw or draw not – there is no try”). I didn’t want
it to become a chore – another to-do item to check off – and I didn’t want it
to become a mundane habit that I do because it’s good for me, like flossing or
taking a calcium supplement.

9/13/14

I decided to think of drawing as if it were yoga. (No, I’m
afraid I don’t do yoga daily . . . I can commit to only one daily thing at a time!) I’ve
been taking weekly yoga classes for more than four years. My instructor says
yoga is both a practice and a discipline. We work regularly on poses to become
stronger and more limber gradually – that’s the practice. The discipline is
more about an internal focus. We sometimes have to work through movements or
poses that are not easy or comfortable; we challenge ourselves and work from
the inside outward.

9/16/14

With drawing, the practice is the physical act of putting
pen to paper every day and building skills gradually. For me, the practice part
is pure pleasure – I love sketching, so doing it every day is fun and not hard
work at all. But if sketching is also to be a discipline, it can be hard work. The
discipline part would be to challenge myself and sometimes draw things that are
difficult or uncomfortable, because that’s how I would grow.

Initially I thought I would announce my daily drawing commitment
here on my blog to “keep myself honest,” be accountable to my readers, etc. But
the commitment I made was to myself,
not my blog readers, so what would be the point? I decided not to announce it.

5/8/14

I didn’t necessarily intend to post every sketch. One
criterion for my blog is that if a sketch has a “story,” then it’s worth
blogging about. Let’s face it – some sketches were just so mundane or ordinary
that I couldn’t drum up a story for them, so they stayed in my sketchbook
without being posted (a few of those appear here today).

On many days, I ended up making more than one sketch,
usually when I went out with other sketchers and therefore spent a couple of
hours in one location for that purpose. But on days that I made two or more
sketches, I didn’t take the next day off. The objective wasn’t to make 365
sketches; my objective was to sketch
every day.

During the best of summer,
I got out to sketch on location every day for many days in a row – an urban
sketcher’s ideal! I can also recall a handful of days when my schedule was crammed
and I really didn’t have time for a sketch – but somehow I managed to find 5
minutes to dash off a quick one before going to bed. Those tended to be
sketches of writing instruments that happened to be on my desk or portraits
from catalogs I grabbed out of the recycle bin (a couple of those appear here,
too).

5/8/14

Today is Dec. 31, and I am happy to say that I sketched
every day during 2014. Most of those days felt effortless because the practice – the part that contains the
pleasure and fun – took over. But I also remember some days that took quite a
bit of effort because the subject matter or technique pushed me out of my
comfort zone. For those, I had to exercise discipline
– trying to push past my usual limits to grow and become a stronger, more
limber sketcher. Whichever way I looked at it, as a practice or a discipline, the
result is the same: Drawing every day is better than not drawing every day.

Tomorrow is Jan. 1 – day 1 of the next 365 days of
sketching.Happy New Year and happy sketching to all of us!

All year I’ve been sketching unfortunate trees that have
been hacked, chopped and otherwise mutilated by city utilities to make way for
power lines. I have plenty more such trees to choose from, but this morning I thought
I’d sketch one that has managed to remain unscathed: It stands on the safe side
of this street in Shoreline, opposite the power lines.

I’m open to risk and challenges when I know the outcome
could be rewarding. But if I’m going to be in the same position for a while, I
like to stand on the safe side of the street.

Here’s to a great new year full
of risk, challenges and knowing which side of the street to stand on!

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

The daytime temperatures have been in the low 30s and even
high 20s this week. That’s pretty cold anywhere, but it’s really dang cold for
Seattle!

I was just reading on Nina Johansson’s blog about how she sketches in sub-freezing temperatures by
mixing vodka with water in her waterbrush to keep it from freezing. Mike Daikubara just posted a sketch he
made in Vermont, where the temp was 19 degrees – without gloves!

Guess what? I don’t have any stories of cold-weather sketching
heroics. (Heck, I wear a hoody in the house.) But if my car is fully heated when I turn the
engine off, I can sit and sketch in it for about 20 to 30 minutes before it’s
no longer comfortable – just enough time for each of these sketches. (I ♥ my
mobile studio!) Yesterday’s empty-nest sketch was in my own Maple Leaf
neighborhood. This morning’s tree with the big bite taken out of the middle was
in Shoreline.

I need to go crank up the thermostat another notch. Stay
warm, everyone!

Monday, December 29, 2014

I’d never heard of the Around the World Blog Hop before Joan Tavolott invited me to take part,
but if it’s about art and blogs, I’m game! A plein air painter and urban
sketcher in New York, Joan is one of the most prolific artists I know! Her daily blog is filled with beautiful watercolor landscapes, urban sketches,
portraits and still lifes. Although I have never been to New York, I feel like I get to know a little more about Long Island every day through her delightful sketches and paintings.

After you enjoy Joan’s work, hop over to the blog of Michele Cooper, whom I invited to
participate on Jan. 5. A fabulous watercolor painter as well as a teacher for
many years, Michele inspires me with her dazzling, light-filled paintings and
whimsical journal pages. She’s also an avid urban sketcher with the Whidbey
Island Sketchers, Anacortes Sketchers and Urban Sketchers Seattle!

12/16/14

(To see the work of more participants, do a Google search of
“Around the World Blog Hop Artists.”)

And now, here are my answers to the hop questions:

What am I working on?

The only art I ever work on is filling my sketchbooks with
daily sketches! A writer by trade and an urban sketcher the past three years,
my “work” (as it relates to art) consists of thinking about what my next sketch
will be – and then sketching it. A secondary part of the “work” is blogging – telling
the stories related to the sketches – which I enjoy almost as much as making
the sketches. In my mind, the two parts go hand-in-hand: Sketch the story, and
then supplement it with words. The result is a thorough documentation of my own
creative process over the past three years since I began to draw.

4/17/14

How does my work
differ from others of its genre?

My work is typical of the urban sketching genre in that I
follow the Urban Sketchers manifestoof
drawing on location and showing my world through sketches, whether at home or
while traveling. Perhaps one way in which my blog differs is that it is entirely process-driven rather than
results-driven: I post any sketch that tells a story – not just the sketches
that I think are “good enough” for public consumption. My blog is not a
showcase of my best work; it’s the documentation of my growth and creative
process.

11/25/14

Why do I create what
I do?

It’s all about learning. I have been a lifelong journal
writer – a practice that makes me more observant but also more introspective.
Sketching, too, makes me more observant, but rather than making me look inward,
it takes me out into the world. Whether I’m sketching a beach in Rio Janeiro or
a neighborhood coffee shop, I learn something about my surroundings that I
could not have learned in any other way.

5/3/14

How does my creative
process work?

My creative process is often motivated by the art materials
I use or want to try. If I have a new fountain pen in my bag or a new brush
marker, I can’t wait to try it on my next sketch! But that’s just the initial
impetus. Ultimately, my creative process is driven by the subject matter: Something
catches my eye for whatever reason, and I feel compelled to express it through
drawing. Every sketch I make teaches me something that prepares me for the next
sketch. Again, it’s all about learning.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Jumping on the media bandwagon of listing the top 10 news
events of the year, last year I started a personal tradition of listing my top 10 sketches. As before, my selection
is based not on what I consider to be my “best” sketches (I don’t like to
evaluate sketches that way) but instead on how memorable they are to me. (Clicking
the title of the sketch will take you to the original post.)

March 16, King Street Station: The day after taking Stephanie Bower’s “Good Bones” workshop, I
sketched this interior scene of King Street Station and congratulated myself
for finally “getting” perspective!

MOHAI

March 29, young sketcher at MOHAI: During one of my three stints as a sketcher-in-residence
at the Museum of History and Industry, I made this quick sketch of an
enthusiastic girl drawing at the gallery window. It was so much fun interacting
with participants who came to see Gabi’s “Drawn to Seattle” exhibit, and it
made me proud to be an Urban Sketcher!

Cannon Beach

May 19, sea stars at Cannon Beach: I made lots and lots of sketches of Haystack Rock and the
seashore at Cannon Beach, Oregon, but my most memorable were the ones I made
while beachcombing during low tide – because of all the swarms of annoying sand
flies I had to battle while sketching!

Green Lake

June 30, Green Lake:
On a beautiful summer afternoon, I skipped my yoga class to sketch at the lake
instead! For me, it was a celebration of the good sketching weather ahead.

Aug. 24, Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro: On our first full day in Brazil when we were still
recovering from nearly 24 hours of flying to get there, we decided to do
nothing more ambitious than lounge on the beach. Under an umbrella, sipping a beverage,
a soft breeze occasionally blowing in from the surf – heaven!

Paraty

Aug. 29, horse carriage, Paraty: After seeing Ch’ng Kiah Kiean’s magical use of an
ordinary twig to sketch amazing scenes, I was stunned. I picked up a twig from
the ground, borrowed KK’s ink, and had my eyes opened to a new way of sketching
that I am still exploring with fascination.

resist one more sketch from our trip to Brazil
(definitely among my most memorable travels). This one was made on the last afternoon
of the Urban Sketchers Symposium when all symposium participants as well non-attending
sketchers gathered in Matriz Square for a final sketchcrawl. Standing on a
bench to sketch this, seeing hundreds of sketchers sketching and socializing as
the light began to fade, I was thrilled to be among them.

Pike Place Market

Sept. 27, Pike Place Market: I had been somewhat intimidated by this much-photographed, iconic scene
– people from around the world who have never visited Seattle have probably
seen it – but I sketched it anyway. I was happy I did; the experience gave me a
fresh look at the familiar.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Like the first in the series, Gabi's second book is
fashioned to look like an elastic-banded sketchbook.

The second book in Gabi Campanario’s Urban Sketching Handbook series has just been released on
Amazon.com: People and Motion: Tips and Techniques for Drawing on Location.
Identical in format to the first in this series, Architecture and Cityscapes,
the latest book is a succinct, compact volume that focuses this time on people
in the urban landscape – how to capture their poses and moves accurately and
expressively. It’s jam-packed with practical information and inspiring examples
for both the beginner and the more seasoned urban sketcher.

Although we could study and practice drawing the human form
by attending traditional life drawing sessions, Gabi sees sketching people in
their natural settings as having the additional benefit of teaching us about our
community. “People are the life of a city. To draw them is to get to know the
place,” he says. While acknowledging that drawing people can be challenging and
frustrating, Gabi emphasizes the fun in sketching people around us and
encourages interacting with subjects. “Learn their first and last names,” he suggests.
“Ask the market vendor where his fruit comes from. Or compliment – and tip –
the busker for the song he played while you drew him.” Including people in
sketches “can introduce you to some very interesting folks with great stories
about themselves.”

The meat of the book examines six keys as they relate to
drawing people: proportion, contour, gesture, expression, context and likeness.
While including tips such as classic studio drawing lessons (an adult’s total
height is about seven-and-a-half to eight times the head height), Gabi stresses
ideas that can be practiced in the real world, such as while using public
transportation or in a cafe.

Most interesting and useful to me was the section on
capturing gesture. As I’ve seen week after week in the Seattle Sketcher’s column, Gabi is a master of this principle.
How does he manage to “freeze the moment” in an often rapidly moving scene and
put it on paper? “I like to take as much time as I can just watching until I
can spot the move that I want to capture,” Gabi says. Showing an example of basketball
players, he explains, “I watched several free throws at my son’s basketball
game until I ‘saw’ the pose I wanted to sketch.”

Another useful section is about capturing body and facial expression
to indicate a subject’s emotions. “Internalizing the emotions of your subjects
will make your sketches of people livelier and full of expression. Is the
person you’re drawing alert, relaxed, cheerful, or concentrating?”

Context, another of the book’s keys, is an important element
of urban sketching. Three years ago when I first began taking my sketchbook out
with me, I used to sketch a lot of people’s faces while riding the bus or in a
coffee shop. Although I remembered exactly where I’d been when I made those sketches,
the sketches themselves didn’t show any information about that. Where was this
floating head sketched? It took me quite a while to understand that if I’d just
include a little of the context, the picture would tell more of a story. I could
have figured this out much more quickly had I read Gabi’s succinct instruction:

“A hint of the environment is enough to turn an isolated
portrait into a true scene that captures a moment of time. Even if you are
focusing on the subway commuter sitting across from you or the musician playing
on the street, adding elements such as windows, the city skyline, or a lamp
post will make the sketch more complete.”

The final section of the book is a gallery of sketches by artists
in the worldwide urban sketching community, including many of my favorites. An illuminating
aspect of all the sketches featured in the book (as well as in the series’
first book) is that the artists have included the approximate length of time they
took to make each sketch. Although I am a relatively fast sketcher myself, I am
amazed and inspired by how much story can be told in a mere 10- or 20-minute
sketch. If you have an hour or two to spare, it’s wonderful to be able to use
that time to flesh out an entire urban scene. But what if you have only the
length of a coffee break? You can still tell a story with a sketch – one that
only you can tell. That’s what urban sketching is all about.(This review is also published on Amazon.com.)

Our Christmas gift to each other this year was to spend most
of Christmas week at one of the most beautiful places on earth (which is, luckily
for us, only four hours away): Cannon Beach, Oregon. We usually go in the springor fall, but our favorite beachfront
hotel was offering a half-price deal during the month of December, so it was
impossible to resist. Both festive and serene, the town was dressed up in
lights for the holidays, and yet we had the place nearly to ourselves. It was the
best of all holiday worlds!

12/23/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, colored pencils, Canson XL

The beach itself, on the other hand, was somewhat dark and
somber – not from the weather (which was mostly moderate and only a little
rainy) but from weather-related events. Last week’s storms pushed in a lot of
debris from the ocean, including piles of plastics and other garbage from the 2011 Japan tsunami that is
finally reaching Pacific Northwest shores. That
devastating event had caused a swirling garbage pit to float around on the Pacific for all these years, and some of
it is finally here. A crew of city staff and volunteers was busy at work
during low tide picking up as much debris as possible from Cannon Beach’s
normally pristine sand.

At the same time, hundreds of dead birds were all over the
shoreline everywhere we looked. We asked around to try to find out what caused
the kill, but we weren’t able to determine whether it was a natural phenomenon
or related to the garbage.

12/23/14 Super 5 Frankfurt ink

Fortunately, not all the sea birds were dead: Every morning
when I opened the curtains, a seagull would immediately appear on our deck
railing, hoping for handouts. Persistent as well as patient, he always stuck
around long enough for me to fill a page or two in my sketchbook. Other times I’d
simply watch a flock of gulls soaring over the water and try to capture the
gesture of flight without resorting to the stereotypical twin curved lines I
used to draw when I was a kid.

Despite evidence of various traumatic events, we enjoyed
many long walks along the shores of Cannon Beach – still one of the most
beautiful places on earth.

Not only was it not sketchable; I don’t really know how to
talk about it. The most startling work is a room full (and I mean literally full; there’s barely room to walk around)
of what I will charitably call “stuff” – a lot of everyday life detritus. Piles
and piles of old books, outdated appliances and electronics, cartons, broken
furniture – a small mountain of stuff. Ultimately you come to realize that it’s
a statement about the 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan. In another piece, a
wall is covered with a montage of heartbreaking photographic images of the
devastation. In another section of the exhibit are Mr.’s huge, colorful paintings
inspired by manga and anime.

I did find one thing to sketch. A 30-minute film called “Nobody
Dies” produced by Mr. was being shown in a room that also displayed costumes
and props that were used in the film. While Greg viewed it, I stood in back and
sketched the costumes and props.

(We viewed this exhibit the same day that we visited the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, but I got
so excited about that place that I forgot all about posting this sketch and the
exhibit review!)

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Based on my Blogger page view counts, my annual roundups of
top 10 sketching products have been among my most popular posts. So it is with
pleasure that I bring you a post I hope you’ll enjoy as much as in previous
years – my top 10 for 2014. (You can see how the list has changed – or not – over
the years by reviewing 2012and 2013.)

As was true last year, many items remain the same (marked
with *); if something is working well for me, I tend not to go looking for
something to replace it simply for a change. (Four products have remained on
the list all three years: Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6. Hmmm. . . I’m so consistent,
perhaps I should change this to a top 5 list and include only new items?). On
the other hand, I’m always exploring new products, so a few things dropped off
the list to make room for others.

My criteria for products appearing on the top 10 change from
year to year. For 2014, they are reliability (therefore generally making them most-often
used), unique properties (enabling me to do things that no other product can),
convenience (allowing me to sketch faster or more easily and therefore more
often) or “just because” (I always like to allow for the whim factor). As in
previous years, except for No. 1, the numbering does not necessarily indicate a
ranking.

10. Pilot Iroshizuku fountain pen inks. This is the only item that falls into the “just because”
category. I realize it’s indulgent to include an entire line of water-soluble inks
– I could have at least narrowed them down to one or two colors – but I’ve
tried and love them all, for both sketching and writing. Momiji, Asa-gao, Yama-budo– they’re brilliant in hue,
fast-drying and shade richly when a little water is washed over them. Granted,
only a few are appropriate for sketching – Take-sumi
is now a favorite black – but that’s why these inks are “just because.”
(However, see No. 6 below, which explains how some Iroshizuku colors go beyond
the whim factor.)

8. Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle water-soluble colored pencils. I’ve always kept a few
water-soluble colored pencils in my bag, but it wasn’t until this year that I
started using them more regularly, and one reason was my discovery of the Caran
d’Ache Museum line. Since I almost never use a graphite pencil for anything, I find
myself using these colored pencils as a substitute. Although all artist-quality
water-soluble colored pencils wash to rich hues with water, Museum pencils are
so soft and beautiful even when dry that I find myself reaching for them
whenever I want to indicate texture, especially in the background of a sketch.
They just feel good to use. Their watercolor qualities are a bonus.

7. Pilot Petit1 fountain pen.This little pendoesn’t get
used very often. I keep it in the tiny bag I take on fitness walks, when I usually don’t sketch but occasionally
spot wildlife that I can’t bear to pass up. But it’s for that very reason –
that I hardly use it – that it made it onto my top 10. This small, very
inexpensive pen has the longest idle time of any pen I’ve used. Ink it up,
forget about it – and six months later, it will still write like you’ve been
using it all along. Remarkable!

6. * Kuretake waterbrushes filled with ink. Last year the Kuretake waterbrush filled with
Diamine Grey ink appeared on the top
10 for making shadows easy to apply. I still use that gray ink as well as other
grays for shadows (Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun
is a current favorite), but now I also carry green inks for quick foliage and
Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuyu-kusa for blue
skies. (See, this is the more objective, less whimsical [see No. 10] reason that
Iroshizuku inks made it onto my list.) They’re not as versatile or esthetically
pleasing as watercolors, but you can’t beat the speed and convenience.

5. * Sailor DE Brush Stroke Style Calligraphy Fountain Pen.Although my trusty Sailor pen with
the ski-jump fude nib appeared on
last year’s top 10, I have to say that I didn’t expect it to supplant all other
pens this year. For a while, I thought either the stalwart Pilot Metropolitan or comfortable Pilot Prera would beat out the Lamy Safari (which had appeared on
both 2012 and 2013 top 10s) this year as my standard go-to. But once I understood
the potential of the Sailor fude’s variable-line-width capabilities, I found
all conventional nibs to be ho-hum. I relegated all my Lamys, Metros and other
single-line-width pens to writing tasks only and bought several more
inexpensive Sailors. (The Sailor fude has, indeed, changed my whole perspective
of fountain pen nibs and has led to a lengthy exploration of variable-width
nibs. Stay tuned for interesting revelations in early 2015!)

4. * Platinum Carbon Black ink. This waterproof ink has made it onto my top 10 all three years,
and for good reason: It has never let me down. It dries almost instantly, is
completely waterproof and has never clogged any pen. I’m currently flirting
with DeAtramentis Document and Super 5 inks, but I haven’t used these
newer waterproof inks long enough to say whether they could supplant trusty
Platinum. In fact, Platinum Carbon Black is the standard by which I judge all
others.

3. * Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. Ever since I discovered the versatility of
putting inks of my choice into waterbrushes (No. 6) – essentially making my own
brush markers – I’ve been using Zig markers less frequently. Still, if you like
to sketch heavy equipmentlike I do,
what I call “construction zone yellow” gets used more often than you’d think. When
I need just a touch of that truly unnatural color for a traffic cone or a construction crane,a Zig comes in very handy. I
also like to keep a few in my bag based on seasonal needs. For example, I
always keep bright red and green in my bag in December (handy for quick Santa sketches).

1. * My “Stefano” sketchbook system.Regular readers of this blog will find no surprises
here. For its versatility, flexibility, durability (it’s been on three
continents with me so far!) and for ultimately leading me to discover the joys of bookbinding, the Stefano is
still No. 1. And that brings me to . . .

Some of my handbound sketchbooks.

Honorable mention: My
growing collection of handbound sketchbooks – I have 16 now – isn’t exactly a sketching supply or tool;
the books are the result of sketching. But
seeing them lined up on my bookshelves makes me very happy – both for the
sketches they contain and the entire sketching process they represent. They
deserve special mention.

Falling off the list:
my DIY paint assembly.

Also worth mentioning here is one significant item that fell
off the list: my DIY mint tin watercolor sketch kit/mixing palette assembly.Watercolors
are certainly still a basic part of my daily-carry sketch kit (as are several
other items that fell off the list this year). But as far as the attachment
assembly goes, which is the part that made my kit unique, I use it less
frequently lately. When I have to sketch standing up, I’m more likely to reach
for waterbrushes filled with ink (see No. 7 above), which are far more
convenient.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Swanson’s Nurseryis fast becoming an ad hoc Friday sketchers’ holiday tradition. With two
reindeer and a camel in residence, a spacious café with a koi pond and
surrounded by a jungle of plants, and lots of holiday decorations everywhere,
it’s hard to beat!

12/19/14 Super 5 Frankfurt ink

Last year and the year before, I focused on several close-up
sketches of the animals. This morning shortly after I arrived, the reindeer and
camel pens were mobbed with kids as their keeper (in the red cap) handed out raisins for them to feed to Dasher and Blitzen. Luckily, kids have a
short attention span, because it didn’t take long for the crowd to disperse (and suddenly my crowd scene looked sparse!). I
moved in closer for a portrait of Curley, the camel, and a couple of gesture
sketches of the reindeer.

By then, I was thoroughly chilled, so I went into the café to

12/19/14 Super 5 Frankfurt ink

warm up. Fortified by coffee and a pumpkin scone, I did a few sketches of the café
area, which is built like a greenhouse with windows covering the ceilings. All
the large-leafed plants were giving me déjà vu of Paraty’s banana trees and palms. It’s such a treat to sketch
indoors under all that natural light! I killed the last five minutes before our
sharing time to sketch one of the koi.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

After last week’s evasive action by Santa, I planned my time more carefully today and arrived
at Northgate Mall well before his lunch break. Unfortunately, it was apparently too
early for much Santa business, because he didn’t have any customers. But my
goal this holiday season was to sketch three or more Santas, not his customers, so I win!Whew. This Santa stuff is exhausting.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

As you might guess, with a blog called “Fueled by Clouds and
Coffee” and living in Seattle, I spend a fair amount of time and money at
Starbucks. I have to admit, though, that I spent more money there today than I
ever have on a single visit, and it’s no coincidence. The Starbucks I visited is
no ordinary Starbucks; it’s the brand new Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room. (Here's a link to a great video.)

Front entrance.

You can’t get an ordinary tall latte there. I couldn’t even get
my usual holiday favorite, the cranberry bliss bar. This place is allspecial:
all the coffees are limited-quantity, doubly priced Reserve coffees. The ceramic
cups are nicer, the coffee bags are nicer (and even come with a fancy little clip
on top), the tables are nicer (“custom designed for the space and manufactured
by hand,” says the brochure). The food is made by local chef and restaurateur Tom Douglas. The guy who helped me was
no ordinary barista; he was like a concierge of Starbucks coffee, helping me
through the whole ordering process. (When he saw me leaving 45 minutes later,
he said, “Have a great day, Tina! Thanks for coming in!”) Even the baristas
were better dressed and had better haircuts than most. (Greg said, “I feel like
we’re in New York.”)

In front of the main bar.

The huge space is filled with copper piping and transparent pneumatic
transfer tubes filled with coffee beans being transported along “the journey of
the bean,” as the brochure says. When you’re washing your hands in the unisex
restroom area, you can look out over the inner workings of the small roasting
equipment. It’s right out of Willy Wonka! As for sipping your cup o’ Starbucks Reserve (I chose Pantheon blend
brewed on the Clover), you can sit at small tables, large tables, low tasting
tables, a rentable “library” space, a fireplace or several bars.

Tina sucked in by two marketing machines!

Wow!

Hook, line and sinker. I was dazzled.

And as long as I was sucked in by all the hype, I decided to
go all the way. Although I sometimes use Field Notes Brand notebooks for memos,
I’m not crazy about the paperfor
sketching or even writing because it’s not great with a fountain pen. But I had
heard that Field Notes had come out with a limited-edition run of Starbucks
Roastery-branded notebooks that would be available only at this one store. Guess
who bought a few?

Ah, retail marketing – you gotta love it!

(Although I didn’t sketch there today, technically, there is
a sketching tie-in: The Friday ad hoc sketchers are planning to visit in a
month or two, and I decided to scout it out. I have no doubt – it’s an
excellent sketching venue!)